Nestragua
by WintersGoddess1983
Summary: Thor requests the aid of the Avengers to save an alien planet from Thanos. Somehow, in the midst of battle, Tony and Doctor Strange find themselves far from home. One of them gravely injured. Can they survive on this alien world til help arrives, or will they finally meet their fate at the hands of their enemy, who may not be whom they originally thought.
1. Fallen

"I'm going to kill Thor" Toni spoke out to herself just to hear her voice. Whatever creepy alien world she'd been thrown into was as quiet as death.

This definitely scored somewhere in her top five of Toni's 'Holy Shit, Why Me' list. This had to be a three, maybe a two. It was sure as hell ranked above Howard's 'I know it's a boy Maria, the name is Anthony' and filling out the birth certificate before she was even born bullshit.

Howard, what a gem he was. As soon as she hit 18 she legally dropped that shit, opting to go with Toni with an i since she nicknamed herself that anyway. The teasing had been relentless when she was younger.

But this was all Thor's fault. Thor and his stupid, noble, 'hey let's save everyone in the universe' attitude. If she died in this alien wilderness she would come back to haunt him til the end of days. She totally would find a way, even if she had to make a deal with Mistress Death she'd torment him for eternity!

This shit show started when Thor crashed down on the landing pad of the Avenger's tower, seeking their assistance in yet another battle with Thanos. At first Toni assumed Asgard was under attack again, but this time the Mad Titan had set his sights on some poor underdeveloped planet that was ripe with magic. They had sent out a few soldier bees to seek assistance from the closest planet, or in this case the floating realm of Asgard.

Thor, God love him, had promised immediate aid as he had fought battles against the Titan before, and rainbowed down to Earth to bring his Avenging buddies along for the ride.

Now, since they couldn't leave Earth unattended only a chosen few were sent to aid the Krannepta, as Thor called them, on their lovely little planet called Nestragua. Where the hell these places kept popping up from she'd never know. At least these aliens were a pretty color though, like shiny turquoise jewelry.

Toni was, luckily (sarcasm), one of the chosen ones. She, along with Thor, Cap, Hulk and Strange were zapped off to the Land of Oz to deal with the big purple asshole once again. While her other marvelous teammates got to stay home and enjoy their peace and solitude.

The assholes.. Sam better not eat all of her apple tarts again while she was gone.

It should have been an easy fight, seeing as they'd kicked his ass twice before, but the Mad Titan must have found a way to suck up the planets magic and make himself even more powerful.

No sooner then they landed the overgrown prune managed to knock out the Iron Man armor. She really should change the name since her identity was no longer a secret and the world knew who the pilot was now, but Iron Man just had a nice ring to it. So fuck it, she'd gotten used to it. Anywho, prune had taken her down almost instantly, then mere seconds later he overpowered Dr. Strange.

Somehow binding his magical abilities up in a tidy little bow leaving a defenseless Strange in the middle of the battlefield. The Cloak of Levatation hanging lifeless on his shoulders.

But that, that wasn't even the worst part. While Toni twitched on the ground like a tortoise on it's back and Stephen tried to find cover, Thanos opened up a weird portal similar to how Stephen does, and grabbed Strange and tossed him roughly through. Now, where the hell her supposed team was at this moment she had no idea, probably fighting the rest of the Titans army, but no one came to her aid as the Titan came toward her with his evil smile.

The last thing she remembered was him flinging here like a rag doll through the portal. She remembered falling toward a dark forest below and praying the armor was strong enough to keep her from dying on impact. Then there was blackness.

She didn't know how long she was out for but it was nearly dark as she was falling and when she woke there were three suns in the sky above her. She had a bitch of a headache and hoped her brain was in one piece. She'd had enough concussions to last her a lifetime.

She was also lying in her own impact crater. At least the armor held up nicely, She had reinforced it after Rhodey's crippling accident.

"Jarvis? Can you hear me?"

Nothing.. Damn..

There was no power to the armor and for once she was glad she had the reactor removed from her chest a year ago or she'd be a dead woman. She lay there a while longer before deciding her best option would be to get moving. She was getting hungry and her food reserves stored in the armor wouldn't last long.

She pushed at the manual release switches and began to strip herself out of the suit. Hot moist air met her exposed skin and had her cursing her full body undersuit, It had to be well over a hundred degrees here.

She rubbed her head where it was aching and her hand came back covered in blood. Oww! There was a huge lump back there too.. Just what she needed to throw off her cute pixie cut, she hoped she didn't need stitches. Sewing up the back of her own head would be hard even for her.

Toni placed the armor in a neat pile and looked around. The trees were gigantic, some looked taller than the tower and had leaves the size of a rhino. There was no wind, no sound.. No bugs, birds or animal calls.

Just nothing.

She wasn't a fan of nothing. It was erie. God, she hoped this wasn't some weird vampire planet where they turned into bats and then chased down their prey and drained their blood. Or maybe a zombie infested alien race that loved to eat flesh.

She cursed Clint for his weird taste in movies that were making her paranoid now.

While she was freaking herself out about the potential inhabitants of this overgrown planet she realized she had forgotten about Dr Strange! Thanos had thrown him into the portal before her, so he should be close by. She scanned the area around her but saw nothing.

 _Oh God, Stephen wouldn't have been able to slow his fall without his magic, and if the Cloak was bound to then he would have hit the trees at full speed.. No..._

 _Oh shit..No!_

Toni had to find him, he'd been out there alone for who knows how long already, he could be severly injured or..

 _Please God, don't let him be dead!_

She liked Stephen Strange, even if most of the other Avengers thought he was an arrogant ass most of the time. Which he could be, hell so was she but he always came to their aid whenever it was needed. He was crucial to their fights against Loki.

Steve had gave him a spot as a permanent Avenger but Strange declined, saying he worked better alone. He wasn't lying, the man spent all of his time closed off in his Sanctum with only his books and ancient relics surrounding him. He never came to any of their team nights where they watched movies and got stuffed on junk food.

He also, much to Steve's chargrin, never attended their weekly sparring sessions. The man was a true loner but Steve left his title as an Avenger anyway.

Toni had to find him, she knew what it was like to be lost and alone in some strange place. She thought back to her time spent wandering the desert in Afganistan, slowly dying from thirst til Rhodey had found her. She didn't want that to happen to her teammate.

She needed to look around, but there was no way in hell she would go unarmed. She pulled open a tiny compartment on the chest piece of the armor and pulled out a few essentials.

A multi-tool, a mini med-kit and a retractable machete of her own design. You never knew when aliens or people eating plants might attack you. She came up with the small Voorhees like device after one of Steve's trraining missions went south and she and Clint nearly starved to death because the only items they were allowed to take were rope and bug spray.

Steve, the sweetie, would let them nearly starve, but no way in hell would he let the bugs bite them.

Hawkeye tried making a bow and arrows from branches and Toni tried to fish with a rock. Needless to say it hadn't ended well, hence her new mini murder/hunting tool.

Toni looked to the sky, if she had fallen straight down through the portal then Stephen should have done the same, right?

Unless his cloak may have sent him off course.

Still he couldn't have gone far, there was no damn wind.

 _"Stephen!"_ she called out. _"Stephen can you hear me?!"_

Nothing. Not a sound.

She was scoping out the treetops, trying to determine where he may have fallen when his cloak shout out of the forest toward her. The seams were slightly torn and it looked like it had rolled in the mud. It must have regained its abilities after Thanos tossed them in here.

It circled around her frantically. She didn't have whatever kind of connection Stephen did with it but she guessed by the way it was flapping about it wanted her to follow it.

What did you call a sentinent cloak? She'd never heard Stephen call it anything before, usually he would just tell it to 'stop that'. Well, Cloak was as good as any name.

"Umm, Cloak? Where's Stephen? Do you know where he is? Is he ok? Is he hurt? Oh God is he even ali- aahhhh!"

The cloak wrapped her up in it's embrace and took off like a freaking rocket. It weaved eratically between the trees, nearly missing decapitating Toni on a low branch.

"Jesus! Watch out, will you! I've had enough brain damage for one day."

Almost as swift as it started, it was over. Cloak opened and dropped her onto the ground with a thud, facefirst into a mudpile. Any other time it may have been funny, but she wasn't in the happiest of moods at the moment. She swiped the mud from her eyes and flung it toward the cloak who smacked it away irritated and made a pointing gesture behind her.

"What?" Toni turned.

Oh God..

Behind her, lying at the base of the nearest tree, his clothes ripped and bloody, was the broken and battered body of Stephen Strange...

 _"Oh no..."_


	2. Pain

"Oh no..."

Toni forced herself up and half crawled, half stumbled her way through the mud to Stephen's side, chanting ' _please God, don't be dead_ ' over and over again in her head. She kneeled beside him, placing her fingers against his neck to check for a pulse. The second her hand made contact a pained moan came from Stephen.

"Oh thank God!"

She had been afraid she wouldn't find one, that the fall through the portal had killed him, but there it was beneath her fingers. Not extremely steady, but son of a bitch it was there, a slow pulsing beat. After a quick thank you to the universe she tried to survey the damage.

"Oh shit..."

He looked horrible, his robes were torn and caked with mud and his left leg was definitely broken. The bone had snapped just below the knee and was poking out through the skin, blood slowly oozing from the wound. It made her feel sick just to look at it. His left arm wasn't much better, the wrist was bent oddly to the side and all five fingers were broken,but the worst...

The sight of it had her turning away and vomiting on a nearby bush or maybe it was a blade of grass, hell she didn't know. Everything here was so freaking huge, she was starting to believe Thanos had shrunk the kids..

Holy mother of God.. The worst was a rather large branch that was sticking out between his left clavicle and scapula. A small pool of blood had gathered beneath him and she could see bits of dirt and other debris stuck around the wound. He must have hit the ground on the left side then, but how in the hell did he survive from that height?

She wiped her mouth and glanced up at the gigantic tree above her, noting the trail of missing branches and bark, then looked at the cloak, it was hovering nervously around it's master.

"You..? Woke up before he hit the ground?" she bit into her hand to try and ward off more sickness. Cuts and bruises she could handle but impaled body parts were her limit.

The upturned collar turned to face her. To be honest it was kinda creepy, it couldn't talk, there were no eyes or ears but it could still understand whatever you said and somehow it could see or sense where it was going. Magic was weird.

The Cloak gave a small nod of it's collar.

She looked back to the tree, "Did he..? Did he hit the ground at all?"

Cloak (she really wanted to give it a better name) seemed to _think_ for a moment, then gently touched his leg and then his arm.

"Just that..? Ok.. So the rest of this came from.. He hit the tree then? Is that what happened to you? Your torn."

The Cloak nodded again. It had a rather large rip down one side, as was there a large gash down the left side of Stephen's face, which had turned a dark shade of purple and his eye was swollen shut. Blood had dried around his nose and mouth, and a tiny line had trickled from his ear.

God, what if there was internal bleeding? Or other internal injuries? What if there was spinal damage? What the hell was she supposed to do? She wasn't an MD, she was an engineer, she had basically the bear minimum of medical knowledge, (just enough to keep herself alive) she was _not_ the best person to handle this. Did the others even know what had happened to them? Where they were?

"This is why I hate leaving earth," she mumbled, trying not to panic. She had to try and treat Stephen's injuries, which meant she was going to have to think back to all those team meetings they had (the ones she completely zoned out in cause Steve yammered on for like four hours and all she wanted was some blueberries) about treating injuries in the field.

Shit... What the hell was she supposed to do about his impaled shoulder? She knew she couldn't take it out, that could cause massive bleeding. Then there was the dirt and Thor knows what other crap was in the wound, if it didn't get cleaned out soon the Doc was going to get a nasty infection. He'd already been lying out here for half a day, well whatever half a day was on this planet she had no idea. For all she knew a week could have passed.

She cursed their ridiculous luck, and Thanos while she was at it. "I swear when we get home I am going to find that big purple cock face and cut off his balls! Does he even have balls? Could totally be a woman, I can never tell these days."

She gave her cheek a tap to get her thoughts back on track, "No, focus Toni. Severly injured man here. Needs your immediate attention! _**Focus**_!"

Toni went back to Stephen's side , Cloak was trying to wipe some of the grime from his face. It obviously cared about it's master a great deal. That was when she heard the small whine the Doc was making. God he had to be in excruciating pain.

"Stephen," she gently cupped the uninjured side of his face, "Stephen, can you hear me?"

A moan of pain was her only response, "Stephen, Stephen it's Toni. Can you open your eyes for me? Come on Doc, you know I'll just annoy the hell out of you til I get what I want. Come on, open those eyes.."

Honestly it would be better if he stayed out of it for a while longer, she needed to treat these wounds and no doubt that would just up the pain level by a ten but he was a medical doctor. He could make sure she didn't cause any more trauma to him.

Fuck..

 _Alright Toni, you got this. You survived Afghanistan, built a flying suit, nearly got beheaded by Cap and fought a purple penis for a magic glove. Becoming an overnigh MD.. No prob!_

First things first, a plan..

Luckily she could adapt on the fly.

"Cloak?" she barked.

The collar snapped up to face her, ready to act. She just needed one thing.

"Do you remember where you picked me up?" It nodded.

"I need you to go back there and get my suit. Every piece, don't leave any behind, I'm going to need it all. Bring it back as fast as you can. _Go_!"

The magical garment shot off like a bullet.

She took a long, deep breath to try any ready herself for the task to come.

A weak voice broke through her thoughts, "Ton... Toni? What? Mmmm, hurss. Can't.. I can't move.. Why can't I move..? Hanns, no.. No, no!" He asked in a panicked breath.

"Stephen-"

"No! no, no, no, no. Out, out get me out!" he cried out. "Please, help me... Don't leave me down here, please! My hanns, please, don't leave me in the car, please!"

"Strange, calm do-"

Hanns? Whats a hanns? Toni wasn't sure at first what he was talking about but he was beginning to panic. It took her a few more minutes (she had a head wound, give a girl a break here) of Stephen begging for her to get him out when she realized he must be in the midst of a flashback. No doubt from the accident that ruined his career.

He jerked his body upward trying to free himself from whatever nightmare he was stuck in. She had to bring him out of it somehow. Needed to get him grounded again before he ripped the branch from his shoulder.

She clasped his good hand between hers, "Stephen! Oh God! Stop moving! _Stop! Stop! Stop!_ You're not in the car, you're ok. You're not trapped in the car, see just look around. Breathe with me, come on. Look, look at me Stephen. Focus on me, ok. Breathe along with me, in and out, see. Just like that, come on."

One beautiful pale green eye looked to her, filled with pain. She could see the terror deep inside and kept coaxing him to breathe. After a few moments he began to calm down but started shaking slightly, hopefully it was caused by the pain truly registering to him and he wasn't going into some sort of shock.

"Good, that's good. Just keep breathing Stephen, we're ok, little beat up but we're both alive."

"Toni..? No..No car?"

"No Doc, there's no car, see. Look, do you see the trees and up there, there's a sky, see it?"

Stephen's head lolled to the side, his good eye roaming around taking in his surroundings.

"Nes..Nestragua?"

Toni shook her head, "Sorry Doc. I don't think we're in Nestragua anymore.."

"I can't.. Why can't I move?"

"Doc-"

"Tell me!"

"You're hurt pretty bad, Doc. So just don't try and move to much ok. Stay still, Cloaks go-"

Stephen choked in a breath,"My cloak, where? S'it ok?" his speech was slurred.

"Relax, it went to get something for me. Yes, it's ok, I promise. I have to get you stitched back up, it went to fetch my suit, there's more in there than my mini med-kit. How you doing? Your breathing sounds raspy."

He was indeed having a hard time drawing a deep breath. Toni placed a hand on his chest and gave a gentle probe which made him scream.

"Sorry! Sorry! I think you have a broken rib or two. God, I hope you didn't ouncture a lung.."

"Mmmph, four broken ribs. Two cracked. Lungs not punctured, not yet. Multiple contusions, broken leg and arm. Bruised kidney, moderate concussion with some facial trauma since my eye is swolen shut and judging by the feeling of my hand, or lack of feeling I'd say it's basically crushed. My spine seems to be fine I can still move my body. How bad is the rest? I am afraid to check."

Toni glared at the branch pointing into the air, "You can't feel it? Damn, I thought that would be the worst. Hey do you by chance have your power back? Maybe you can just portal us home."

"Feel what, I don't feel any pain elsewhere."

"Hmm. Ok, just dont.. Dont look to your left.." Toni cringed, knowing he'd do it anyway.

" _What!_ Why?" He turned his head so his good eye could see.

"Doc, don't!"

"Oh... _Fuuuck_! That's a, it's a branch. There's a tree in me.."

"Well more like through you..."

Stephen's eyes rolled up into his head and he promptly passed out.

Toni sighed, not really knowing what to do. She sat beside Stephen and rubbed a hand through his hair, it always made her feel better if she was ill. She looked up to the pinkish colored sky, praying that soon someone would come for them.


	3. Broken

Finally, after what seemed like freaking eternity but in reality was only about five minutes, the Cloak finally made it back with the remains of the armor. After depositing the sad remains at her feet it went back to hovering anxiously around it's master before draping itself over him like a blanket. Toni wondered if there was some sort of hidden dependency they had with each other. She had never once in the short time she'd known Stephen, seen him without the Cloak.

Come to think of it, she'd never seen the man in plain clothes either. Whenever he visited the tower he was always decked out in his patented Merlin getup. Did he even own regular clothes? Were jeans not his thing? Even Pepper, with her proper CEO millionaire fashion sense, owned at least a dozen pair of jeans. Sure, they were two hundred dollars a pair but they were jeans.

And then there was Wong, Strange had brought him to the tower once to inform them of some dimensional rift during their weekly movie night. When Wong had found out they were watching Austin Powers Goldmember (he was a Beyonce lover, apparently) he invited himself and flopped down on the cozy couch in the corner while magicing away his robes for a pair of sweats and an I Love NY tee.

Wong! Even Wong wore regular clothes, she'd seen it with her own eyes. After they all got over the shock of the humble librarian kicked back eating popcorn and Ho-Ho's they realized Stephen had vanished. When Toni had asked Wong where he went, he had just waved it away saying that 'it's just how Stephen is, he prefers to be alone'.

Toni wasn't entirely convinced of that, she'd seen the way he looked at the team when they were together. She could tell he wanted to stay, to do things with them but something was holding him back. They'd even had Parker, sweet innocent little Spiderman with his big kitten eyes, to try and shanghai the good doc to spend more time with the team. He failed, and she was pretty sure he had cried real tears when Strange refused him.

No one on the team could refuse Pete when he gave you the kitten eyes and his awkward babble. Well, Strange could obviously.

 _Just one of a thousand questions she had about the former doctor.._

She sorted through the pieces of armor piled on the ground til she found the faceplate, knowing it was probably useless since it was dead earlier she brought it to her face.

"Jarvis?"

Nothing, nada, zilch.

Damn.. She could really use his medical expertise right now.

Toni was separating the pieces so she could access the contents hidden inside when Stephen's voice floated toward her, "Toni? Toni, where are you?!"

He sounded panicked, he must have thought she got the suit going and flew the hell out of here, leaving him to possibly die alone on a long forgotten planet. Why did people always (and really, she meant _always_ ) think the worst about her. She knew she was bitchy but damn, they could at least give her some credit, geez..

"Easy Merlin, I'm right here. Big Red brought my goodies back to me, I've got more than my machete stashed away in here so I'm gonna get you fixed right up, good as new! Well, I'll get you better than you are now so don't you worry!"

Stephen actually groaned, "You have no idea what to do, do you?"

"Wrong! I know somewhat what I need to do.."

Stephen stared at her.

"Okay, I'm basically clueless here. I'm like Cher Horowitz at a thrift store clueless. I have no idea where to start. "

"What..? What do you have in your suit? Do you have any-" he broke off into a coughing fit that made Toni wince. That was going to wreak havoc on his broken ribs.

"Please don't puncture a lung. There's no way in hell I can fix that. On the bright side though, your speech isn't as slurred now."

He clutched his chest as he sucked in small gasping breaths, "I'll do my best my Queen"

Toni cocked a brow, sarcasm suited his haughty demeanor. "As your Queen i expect you to worship and adore me and tell me how incredibly sexy I am no less than thirty times a day. Oh, and you have to magic me off to exotic places whenever I command. You can be my personal concubine."

"I'm not a. Woman. I can't be your. Concubine. But if I tell you. You're gorgeous. Will you shut up and _help me_!" he rasped. "I.. I can talk you. Through most of it. But.. I'm probably. Not going to. Be conscious for long. Once you start."

"Am I? Gorgeous?" She didn't get a reply, "Doc..?"

"Yes….I'm just.. I'm in a lot of pain. My head… What do you have? In your suit."

To Stephen's surprise she had quite a lot. In addition to her machete and mini med kit she had many more hidden compartments inside the armor. There was a stitch and suture kit, medical grade morphine, gauze and bandages, a roll of hemostatic dressing and a dozen more things you'd normally find in an OR. There were matches, a lighter, some LED pen lights that were blindingly bright and even dried fruits.

There were flat packets of soap and sanitizer and a little dental kit.

She even had three large water bladders filled with water.

As she sorted out her secret stash she noticed the Doctor staring, "Don't look at me like that, I had a bad Steve survival experience and I had to prepare myself for anything. Do you know how hard it is to fish with a rock? Here," she held the bladder to his lips, "Sip slow doc."

"Thank you."

"Anytime Doc. Now I know it's time for some heartwarming moment between us but let's save that bit for later cause I need some guidance here. I'm out of my depth, I'm not Banner.. Or you know, you."

"Do you think. You can find water. We need to. Save that for drinking."

"Not a prob, Samwise taught me a few tricks. Check me out!"

Toni walked over to one of the numerous mudpiles and started digging a crater in the middle. It was a slow going process but after a while water began separating from the mud and pooled in the bottom of the crater.

"Tada! See, agua. We'll live to see another day."

It earned her a small smile from the Doc, who was being cuddled by his apparent life partner, "Not bad for. A narcissistic billionaire. I don't suppose. You have a bowl. In there. Do you?"

"Hey! Rude much? I'm not a- yeah ok I kinda am. And no, no bowl, but my trusty helmet can double as one," she pulled out the heat resistant liners from inside and scooped it into the water.

"I'm guessing you want me to boil this, right?"

"Can you?"

"Can birds fly?"

"Not all of. Them."

"..."

"Ostrich. Doesn't"

"I'm not even responding to that.. _Cloak!_ Go find some wood so I can save your boy toy, Big Red. Huh, I like that, Big Red. I'm calling you that now, you're _welcome_!"

Toni didn't think it possible for a cloak to give the finger but this one succeeded, then in a flash it went off to no doubt gather the needed wood.

"Kay, Doc. Tell me what to do."

While they waited for the Cloak to return, Toni set to work removing the Doctors robes. It was easier said than done since he was _very_ adamant about her not destroying them ( I can buy you new ones Stephen! They're a thousand years old Toni! ). And people thought she was picky.

They came to a compromise and he allowed her to cut up the seams of one side so she could get them off. Apparently he could magic them back to perfection, well he could if he currently had access to his powers. She was very careful as she cut away a few extra places to make it easier to remove from the major injuries. The shoulder was the worst, Stephen kept his head turned away the entire time she was cutting through the fabric. His face had an erie grey hue.

"You with me Doc?"

He nodded tightly, "Mmmm, it hurts. I'm starting to. Feel it more."

Whatever adrenaline he had had that was keeping the pain at bay was fading. She hoped he could hold on a little longer and he'd get a happy dose of morphine. He was holding out on the wonder drugs until he helped Toni through the devil phase of setting the bones. There was a danger of him going into shock and he was beginning to shake slightly. Luckily the Cloak returned with a load of sticks and to her surprise built a nice little fire mound while she cleaned the cuts on Stephen. It even managed to light it and set the helmet on top.

She wanted her own magic cloak. Maybe if they made it home she could have Stephen turn Dum-E into one.

Toni set to the task at hand, cleaning every scrape she could find as she waited for the water to boil. She had to say, the Doc was hiding a pretty hot bod under those baggy monk clothes. Damn, he was ripped. He was nowhere near as bulky as Steve or Thor but he had some well defined muscles.

She studied him as she wiped the alcohol swabs over him, intrigued. He was pale skinned, both naturally and from the recent trauma he'd been through. There was a light dusting of dark curls on his chest leading down to his taut stomach that was riddled with small scars (likely from the car crash) before it disappeared under the waistband of navy blue boxer-briefs.

Apparently he color coordinated his underwear. Nice!

He had these high chiseled cheekbones, you know the kind that hot British men have, they always looked like the were artfully contoured but since the Doc didn't wear makeup his were a hundred percent natural. Then there was the expertly styled facial hair, even after his fall there wasn't a hair out of place. One would think it was painted on.

His beautiful black wavy hair with the grey dotting the temples just added to the overall yumminess she was really witnessing for the first time, but it was his eyes, crystal clear pale blue orbs that could pull you in and gaze into your soul, the eyes were the first thing Toni had ever noticed about the man. So full of confidence and arrogance, but look deeply enough and you could see the underlying pain of a life hard lived. She had seen it enough in her own eyes to recognise it.

She was internally drooling over his muscular legs when, "Are you ogling me?"

She jumped about a foot from the ground and fell hard on her ass, embarrassed.

"No!"

"You were.." he didn't sound too happy to have the sexiest woman alive for six years in a row giving him potential bedroom eyes. "Why..?"

"Ummm. Because I'm a woman that's attracted to pretty things and you my dear Merlin are a very, _very_ attractive man."

Stephen gave her an angry snicker, "Very funny. Toni. Next time try. To come up with. Something more realistic."

"You're a strange one Doc. You know most men would be running for the bedroom if I told them they were hot. Sexy is sexy, and you're sexy."

He frowned at her, still avoiding looking toward his left side and the impaled shoulder. "I know what I see in the mirror, Toni…" he whispered.

"Oh good! Then you know I'm right."

Stephen had wanted to say something else about it but went off on another coughing fit, "God.. Please make it. Stop.." he wheezed.

Toni eyeballed the half naked sorcerer shaking on the ground, wondering where his insecurities came from, but she'd work on that later. Now she had injuries to fix.

"Kay Doc, all the smaller cuts are cleaned, they aren't bleeding and they don't look like they need stitches. A few of them are a little deep, but I'm gonna use butterfly bandages on those. I figure I need to save the stitches for the rest." She looked worried at the new task ahead, "Where do you need me to start?"

He looked at her from his one, open eye, "Hands.. You need to. Set the bones back. In the right position. Same with my. Wrist." He panted, "You'll have to find. Something to. Brace it with. It needs to be. Immobile. The cloak. Will have to hold me down. If I move I. Might cause more damage."

They contemplated for a few minutes before Toni realized she could use her armor to basically cast up his broken bones. It could be manually locked at all the joints ( Jarvis insisted since he thought she was accident prone ) and it adjusted so she should be able to fit it around Stephen. She felt like a dumbass for not thinking of it sooner and was totally blaming her recent concussion for her brain failure.

She knelt to take his wrist and begin straightening the bones while Big Red draped itself taut over the Doctor but he stopped her, "Wait… I need. Something to bite on."

"Oh, umm. Hold on." She pawed around inside the suit again and came away with a small flexible stick.

"Where did you- Is that a..?"

She smiled, "It's a bite stick. Made of silicone, mostly used for sleep biters but Nat told me after the wilderness fiasco it's essential to every first aid kit."

"Wow. One day. You need to tell. Me about that. Trip." he panted.

Toni placed it between his teeth, "Ok, I'm just gonna," she gestured, "get started now.."

Stephen nodded, looking grim. She started with the fingers, she had to snap them back into a straight position, and by the way they looked it would hurt like hell. The thumb was the only miracle, it seemed. The rest were all pointing in different directions, with the pinky bent two different ways.. Oh God..

The pinky was first, might as well do the worst first, she thought. She hated causing him even more pain, the man probably had constant pain in those hands from the crash but it was either that or leave them broken and she couldn't do that to him.

It was a good thing the Cloak had him pinned, as she snapped the fingers straight Stephen screamed and tried to thrash around, the Cloak had him completely immobile. She worked quickly as she could, all the while listening to Strange's pained screams. It was a miracle he didn't bite through the guard, god she dreaded setting his leg.

After an eternity she had all the fingers more or less straight, she wasn't sure if they were completely straight before so she thought she did her best. Then she set the wrist, which was harder than it looked since the bone was much bigger. It took her two tries to get it into position and poor Stephen's cries could wake the dead. She hoped there were no predators nearby, they had no clue what could be hiding in these woods.

"Stop..Stop, stop, stop...Can't. God stop.."

"Ok, it's ok I've got you! That part is over, I just need to get the armor in place and then we can do the leg.. Can I give you the morphine now?"

He was trying his best to hold himself together but the pain was too horrible, he couldn't help it, tears leaked from his eyes and he sobbed quietly. "No.. Not til after the leg. I have a. Low tolerance for drugs. Knock me out in. Minutes.. Just, give me a.. Moment."

Toni knew how he must feel, she was no stranger to pain after all. He deserved a nice dose of happy drugs when this was finished. She wasn't afraid to admit she shed more than a few tears after Afghanistan. Then a few more after the race in Monaco, oh and let's not forget nearly being squished by her own house.

Aliens, Ultron, Thanos… How the hell was she still living?

She touched the Cloak, trying to give Stephen a few moments to pull together she made a few signals that she hoped implied she wanted it to maneuver into the next position. It must have got the clue because it shifted to expose his leg. God, this one was going to be hard.. The tibia, the big bone was poking through the skin just below the knee. Somehow she had to push the bone back under the skin without causing any tissue damage or (holy fuck no) nicking an artery.

"Mmmm, do you. Have any gloves?"

She shook herself from her thoughts, "Yea, I have a couple pair of vinyl ones in there."

"Take, take the water off the fire. Let it cool some. You need to. Clean the wound, before and after you're. Finished. There needs to be. Something to hold. The bone down while you. Splint it.. Take some of the. Hemostatic gauze after you set. The bone and wrap it. Around the wound to help clot the blood."

"Should I? Should I stitch it closed?" Toni asked.

"No, infection will. Set in in a few. Days anyway. I can tell, there's dirt and. Other things in there. I went to long. Without treatment."

"I'm sorry doc, I would ha-"

"Not your fault. I know you would. If you could have. Leave it open. The gauze will help. But we'll have to drain the. Infection if it gets bad. I'd rather not have. To cut it open again.. Do you have cloth?"

"Yeah, they're stored in the left ass cheek!"

"..."

"Of the armor, weirdo! Hey do you think this could help. Jarvis makes sure to hoard the suit with all kinds of crap."

"What is it?"

She pulled open a compartment on one of her boots, "It's uh," she read the label, "Lidocaine. I have six of these and six morphine shots. Will that help?"

"...Toni?"

"What?"

"Marry me. I think I'm in love with you."

She laughed, the first genuine laugh she's had since home, "Well Doctor, if I'd known the way to your heart was harboring medical supplies I would have did that all along. I take it this will help?"

"God, yes!"

While they waited for the water to cool she was instructed on how to inject the meds into the leg. Stephen said he would still feel some pain but thanks to Jarvis's foresight it wouldn't be nearly as bad. After the entire bottom half of the leg was numb, she resanitized her gloves and took the cooler water to clean the wound. The lidocaine must have been helping since the Doc didn't nearly bite the stick in half this time. As per Doctor's orders, she _really_ had to clean it out, like she had to repeatedly pour water over the wound to rinse out as much dirt and caked blood as she could. Stephen winced a few times, but there was no screams of pain like before.

The leg turned out to be easier to set than the fingers, it was a blessing for them both. It practically slid back into it home base and Toni wrapped it with the gauze to stop any blood flow.

"You need to find. Some sturdy sticks and rope. The bone needs to. Stay in place while you put the boot on."

"I don't think that will work, Doc. The skinny ones won't hold and the big ones won't fit in the armor.." She looked down at her undersuit and had an idea.

"What if I cut the lower half of the leg of the undersuit off and we stretch it around your leg. It's like a spanx but even tighter. It's pretty much a compression suit to help the blood flow at high speeds. Would that help keep the bone in place?"

Stephen stared at her, "You really do adapt on the fly. Don't you? That may work. We'll try it."

With the help of the cloak and her trusty machete, the made quick work encasing his leg in the makeshift brace. It was tight enough to hold it in place but not tight enough to reduce any circulation. And it was breathable, her own design, one she was proud of.

After the leg armor was attached to nearly mid thigh, they prepared to deal with the monster. The impaled shoulder. Toni was very scared, what if she pulled it out and he bled to death? What if he had some kind of pain triggered seizure? This was the worst and was going to be the most painful, which was why they held off til last.

"Morphine yet?" Toni asked.

"No, not yet. Listen to me very carefully. You're going to have. To take this out of me. It can't stay in and. We can't stay here. We will have to move. Eventually."

"Doc, that's cra-"

"You have to. There's a good chance. It could have cut. Into my thoracoacromial artery or my suprascapular artery. If it did once you. Pull it out you need to clamp. Off the bleeding somehow. Above and below the tear. Then you can stitch the artery. Closed. Just make sure you. Don't sew it together. Just the outer walls. There's nothing you. Can do for the broken bones. My biggest fear is bleeding out. Do you have clamps."

Toni was starting to sweat, "Oh shit.. I don't, I don't know!"

"Toni, calm down. It's ok. You can do this. Please, I.. I need you.."

"If you don't, then use your shoestrings. It should slow enough. To let you close the bleed off."

"Stephen, I don't think I can-"

"Please.. You can. Same as before. But after you numb you have to cut most of the. Branch on the front away. It went through from front to back. So you have to pull it out from the back side. It's too large to pull all that out. How sharp is your knife?"

"It's adamantium…"

"You made yourself Wolverine's claws?"

"Hey, I needed sharp. Last time Hawkeye was trying to build a tent with a pocketknife. I tried this baby out, cut right through that big ass oak tree at the compound. Shame it fell right onto Steve's quarters."

He huffed, "Then it should cut this. Cut as close to. The skin as you can. Gently roll me to my side. Cloak will brace me. Then pull it out. Smooth as you can. Rinse and if there's. Severe bleeding. Clamp and stitch. I trust your stitches. I've seen you do them before."

"What about after? There's going to be a huge hole in your shoulder, Do I stitch it closed? What am I-"

"Clean it and pack it with. The hemostatic gauze. Stitch the front closed if possible. The tissue inside will shrink back together. The back you need to. Cut some of that tube. I saw in your kit. For drainage. Don't close it completely. Only halfway. You'll have to remove the. Gauze tomorrow and restitch properly. If we get home. Wong can heal it properly."

"Is that safe?"

"As safe as it can be. With what we have. I'll probably pass out from the pain. Are you ready?"

Toni nodded weakly. She was nowhere near ready but there really was no other option. He was right, they couldn't stay in this spot forever. They'd eventually need shelter, and food. Her meager fruit packs wouldn't last long. Then there was the possibility of gigantic predators out there. She got everything she needed close by and organized onto her chestpiece.

Slicing through the branch was like a knife into butter. She waited til after it was cut to numb up the area, then between her and Big Red they got Stephen onto his side and immobile. She did not want to do this, this was going to make her PTSD haunt her for months.

"Toni…?" 

"Yeah?"

"What.. Whatever happens. I'm glad you're with me. I'm glad I'm not alone.."

She went around to face him and lie down beside him. She pressed her forehead against his and looked him in the eye. "You are not alone Stephen.. You never were and you never will be, you have us, all of us. You have me, and Wong and Peter who adores you as much as he annoys you. You're part of our big, psychotic, dysfunctional family, you just have to let yourself in."

She kissed him softly, and he returned it in kind. It was probably the sweatiest kiss she'd ever had, they were both drenched in the humidity and there was a tang of blood on his lips but it made her tingle in places that had been asleep for way to long. She was eager to explore more of the Sorcerer Supreme but now wasn't the time. She would just have to make sure he lived through the next part of his ordeal to make it home.

She eased back, looking at him once more, he looked wrecked.

"Toni.. I'm scared.."

"I am to.." She kissed and caressed his cheek, "I'm giving you a dose of morphine now. Don't argue, you're already in to much pain. It will calm you down to."

He only nodded, sick with the anticipation of what was coming.

"You ready?"

"Just.. Just get it over with.." She slipped the bite bar back in.

"Remember Doc. You are not alone.."

Toni looked at the Cloak to make sure it was ready and sent up a prayer to anything that would listen. She took a moment to run her fingers through Stephen's hair, he was starting to shake rather hard. She hoped the morphine kick in, and soon.

She braced herself, then pulled.

Stephens scream could have shattered diamonds.


	4. Honor Guard

Hell…

That was the only explanation. She had died and gone to Hell. What other explanation could there be. Shit like this didn't happen to normal people, why was it always happening to her. So, dead. She had to be dead, right? She always knew that if there was a God _(other than Thor)_ that her dark little soul would end up there.

Kinda thought there'd be more fire. And you know, maybe brimstone and and angry, horned demon _(angel Toni, Lucifer was once an angel)._ Well, the hot part was correct, there was less heat and humidity in the Amazon..

Toni bit back an angry sigh, it wouldn't do any good, nobody would hear it anyway. Well the Cloak would if it were paying attention.

It _(he,she?)_ had been stretched out protectively over its master since Toni had finished her backwoods field surgery. She shuddered, Never again.. She was never doing that again, she'd rather go another round of war with Cap then to yank a freaking tree from a human body again.

In what world is that normal!

Her body was aching from the fall, from the stress of being stranded here for over a day already. From the screams of her teammate as she tried valiantly to sew him back together.

Night had fallen hours ago, she had to scour around to find enough wood before darkness fell to sustain the fire overnight. There was no way in Hell she would walk alone in these woods in the night, there wasn't even enough light from the moon above to break through the massive trees so the forest floor was a black abyss.

Toni tossed another log onto the fire and reclined back against the base of a tree. That should keep it going for another few hours. Enough time for her to catch a quick nap, she didn't want to risk a deep slumber out here, anything could happen. They could be attacked by gigantic butterflies or some weird shit.

Plus, Stephen could wake and need her and she wanted to make sure she was readily available should he need anything. That man had been through basically torture and if he so much as wanted a fingernail trimmed she'd find a way to build nail clippers out of her suit.

She glanced over to where he was lying, he hadn't moved a muscle in what she thought was about twelve hours. One would have thought he was dead if not for the slow rise and fall of his chest. The shaking had stopped once he lost consciousness _(before she had even fully removed the unwanted limb, get it? Limb? Eh, bad joke Toni.. From his shoulder)_ and he had been still ever since.

She was debating on whether she should try to rouse him or to just let him wake naturally. Other than checking his pulse about fifty times she had mostly left the man alone but he would need to drink something soon, and eat a bit. This planet was so hot and humid, she'd been drenched in sweat since she'd been awake, and she knew the last thing the Doc had was that sip of water she gave him earlier.

To rouse or not to rouse, that is the question.

She couldn't let him dehydrate, not with the shape he was already in, she had to at least try to keep him as physically healthy as possible. Not sure how healthy you could be after being impaled, but she had to try. And she knew that the morphine could make you hella thirsty (she was fairly acquainted with it).

Toni could see the beads of sweat rolling down Stephen's forehead, he hadn't felt overly warm on her last check so she hoped it was from the humidity. Or possibly the weight of the Cloak stretched out protectively over him was the cause. It looked like it would be heavy and warm, not something you wanted in this jungle heat, but her attempts to dislodge it had ended with her getting slapped pretty harshly.

The Cloak seem like it was angry with her after the limb incident. When she had pulled it out and Stephen fainted she could have sworn it was glaring at her for causing its master more pain. It wasn't like she could have controlled it, it was better he passed out anyway, at least he wouldn't feel it while she doused the wound with water. The Cloak however, had been slapping at her since, her efforts to appease it were going nowhere.

Luckily, Stephen's prediction of a nicked thoracoacromial had turned out to be wrong, other than some expected bleeding it had gone fairly well. Toni had cleaned and inspected the wound as best she could, she could see the broken clavicle bone but could do nothing about it. After repeated rinses she stitched the opening on his chest closed like he told her and packed the gauze and the tube into his back, leaving enough space to remove the gauze tomorrow.

She wanted to find a better way to make him comfortable, it looked miserable lying on the hard ground, but first she was going to try and wake him up, he could rest more after he drank and ate a little. First she had to make the angry guardian trust her intentions.

Rising, she gave her stiff back a nice crack. God she felt like an old pile of dog shit, she should have known after forty everything would roll downhill. Maybe it was time to restart the Extremis program again, she had put it on the backburner during their civil war and just never came back around to it. That could fix her creaky bones.

She pulled another log onto the fire, she wanted to get some more drinking water ready for them. Jarvis had included some water purifying tablets in the armor as well as some antibiotics, ( _she would really have to do something nice for him when she made it back)_ , but she'd rather save those for a desperate situation. Boiling would be fine for now, it wasn't easy to get the helmet to heat to that point but if she was anything it was adaptable.

She took one of the water bladders and moved toward Stephen. The Cloaks collar snapped to face her, making her halt.

"Easy…" she raised her hands, "Look, I'm not going to hurt him. Earlier was not my fault! You try having an inanimate object shoved through you and see how you feel! You'd be in pain too!"

The Cloak rose menacingly before her, raising its left side to show the rip in the cloth.

"Ok, I get it, you're hurt to, but human pain is different, our bodies can't handle that much trauma. We're not immortal, we bleed, we hurt, we can die! I did what I could with what I have, I know you care about him and that you're trying to protect him, but I'm not the enemy here. So please stop trying to hit me and let me look at him."

Cloak rippled, but seemed to consider her words. It floated back beside Stephen and didn't slap her as she knelt down but it was watching her closely.

He looked a mess, the entire left side of his body was a deep purple bruise. The cuts she had bandaged looked well, there was no bleeding there was no redness or puffiness that she could see. The broken leg was encased in her boot, so she wasn't going to check on it at the moment. Tomorrow when he was less dopey with morphine they could tackle that task together. She didn't want to risk moving his hand either, it was giving her the most worry.

Toni tried to recall details she had read in Stephen's file, about the aftermath of his accident. She wasn't certain, but she thought he had some metal fused into the bones of his hands to help hold them together. That didn't do her any good, but it concerned her that the metal could have broken or _(God forbid)_ shattered and he had pieces of shrapnel floating in there.

Toni would have liked to check the wound on his back but she was afraid to move him, when she and the Cloak had laid him down she placed some of the cloth Jarvis had gifted her with underneath to keep dirt from getting in. His body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, he didn't feel warm so most likely it was from the heat. She looked like a wet dog at the moment.

"Stephen?" Toni gently called, "Stephen, wake up. Open your eyes for me Doc. Come on."

She gave a light shake to his good shoulder making him moan, "I know Doc, it hurts, but come on. I need you to wake up now, you need to drink or you'll get dehydrated. Wakey, Wakey." She nudged him again.

"Mmmm, Toni?" His good eye cracked open but rolled around wildly, "Whasit? Mmm, what's going on? Wong! Wong, ring the alarm! Beyonce! Chicken in the farm!"

Holy shit! Wow, he wasn't kidding. He is a lightweight with drugs, she thought. It'd be fun to get him buzzed sometime.

"Doc, doc come on, look at me. It's Toni, I need you to wake up so you can drink this."

"Toni..?" He squinted, "Where's your goatee?"

" _What_! Hey, I wax my face every month, it's like a newborn baby bum. You're the one with the peachy fuzz doc. You with me yet?"

"Ooooh, that's the other universe.. You're a man in that one.. Mmmm, whyzit so hot? Have I been on fire?"

Toni whistled, "Wooo, I am never giving you drugs again.."

"Okay.." Stephen agreed.

"Here," Toni opened the water and tilted his head up, "Slow sips Doc."

He tried to use his good arm to take the bottle from her and ended up spilling some over his face and getting a nose full of water. He choked, going into a coughing fit.

"Shit!" Toni jerked the bottle back, "Easy Doc, I said slooow!"

The Cloak flew forward menacingly and gave her a hearty slap, right across the cheek, "Ooow!" She dropped the bottle, losing half her water across the ground, "That wasn't my fault asshole!"

She held her cheek, the stinging radiating from her lip to her brow. That wasn't a light tap, it felt more like a punch, the damn red monster slapped the shit out of her, _hard_... Her eye was watering from the force and when she rubbed a finger over her lip there was a smear of blood. There was the familiar warmth in her nostril to, no doubt there'd be blood there as well.

"You didn't need to do that…" she whispered, giving the little bastard her best glare.

She rose and walked back to the tree she was resting against earlier. A swipe of her nose showed a little blood. Toni sighed wearily, there'd be a nice bruise tomorrow, and a potential black eye. A shame Jarvis didn't give her some kind of ice pack.. Why were people always hitting her in the face, or trying to choke her.. Obie, Loki, Thor.. Why was she everyone's punching bag?

Resting her uninjured cheek on her knees she gazed into the fire, the water was beginning to boil, she'd need to refill the bottle she'd dropped after it cooled but right now she couldn't be bothered. Maybe if she fell asleep she'd wake up back in the tower and this would just be a bad dream.

She sniffed, it wasn't really her fault, but she should have known he was thirsty and may try to take the bottle. She deserved the slap, she was supposed to be helping him..

Toni was roused from her thoughts by a rustling sound, she glanced over to make sure the Cloak wasn't going to slap her again and saw that the rustling was Stephen, rolling to his good side. Trying to get up..

Alarmed, she bolted to her feet, "Doc!" she ran to him, "Doc stop! You're going to hurt yourself , please! Lie back down!"

The Cloak beat her to him, trying to roll him onto his back but Stephen lashed out with his broken hand, pushing it away. " _Stop_!" he yelled.

The Cloak froze, backing away.

"Doc, are you-"

" _Don't_! Don't.." he said quietly.

He grimaced, pulling himself up enough to send a seething look at the Cloak, "Why did you do that..? That.." he gasped, "That wasn't her fault.. You shouldn't have hit her.."

Cloak floated toward him, "Don't! Just, leave me be. That.. That was uncalled for. You-you need to apologize." Stephen glared at it.

The Cloak looked truly regretful, the collar hanging low, it floated over to Toni where it hovered a moment before wrapping itself around her. Almost like a hug, it lifted an edge and stroked her bruised cheek before it drifted away behind a tree.

Stephen coughed weakly, then lay back against the ground, "Toni.. Toni, I'm sorry. It shouldn't have-"

"Shhh, Doc it's ok. It's just trying to protect you. Are you alright, you could have did serious damage trying to get up like that!"

"I'm fine.. Ish. But I think I'm gonna go pass out now.."

"Doc?"

"I'm fine, just a little too much at once. Everything hurts. So I'm just gonna lay here and pray you're generous enough to give me another dose of morphine."

"That I can do." Toni smiled.

She managed to get him to drink the rest of the water she had for him and gave him a half dose this time since it made him kinda wacky. The Cloak was sulking behind a tree and her water was cooling off the fire. She was feeling bored, she needed something constructive to do or she'd go crazy.

She watched Stephen lying awkwardly on the ground and got an idea, she looked at the huge blade grass surrounding them, each one as wide as her thigh and as tall as she is. The plot forming in her mind, Toni got her machete and cut down the massive stalks. She rolled each one tightly til she had a mound of small springs, the she stretched out several more flat on the ground and placed the rolled pieces inside. She pulled the flat pieces together and tied the ends, making a nice firm pillow.

Pleased with her little creation she went to place it under Stephens head.

"Mmmm. Thank you. That feels nice.." he mumbled.

"Don't mention it Doc…" Toni said.

She went back to her tree and decided she would try to get in a nap before morning. Tomorrow she would work on finding a way off this freaking planet, because it didn't look like anyone would be coming to their rescue..


	5. Let It Go

"Toni?"

 _(loud gurgling)_

"Toniiii?" Stephen tried again, "Toni, wake up.. Please."

 _(loud snore)_

"Shit.." Stephen swore,"Toni, wake up. I need a little help!" He tried again, a little more loudly.

 _(incoherent mumbling)_

He gave a defeated sigh. From his position on the ground it was hard to gauge exactly where Toni was sitting. Unfortunately for him, she had positioned herself on his bad side (his eye was still swollen closed) and he was in too much pain to try and stretch his head around to find her. He'd already tried it once and had been met with agonizing bolts of pain shooting through his brain like fire. It was as if someone had dipped spikes into lava and shoved them through his skull.

He'd quickly returned to his flat position but the pain left him feeling weak and nauseous. He thought for a moment he would vomit but luck must have been on his side for the time being, as long as he kept still he was fine. He imagined that this was what being hit with Mjolnir felt like.

It sure as Hell wasn't a pleasant feeling.

Stephen had woke up around an hour ago and had been greeted with the thunderous rumble of Toni's snoring. He knew he should have roused her from her slumber but his head felt clear for the first time in two days so he wanted a few moments of clarity before she dosed him with morphine again. He could already feel the last dose fading away but he needed a clear head to try and work out his magic conundrum.

No matter what he had tried, he couldn't find any way to access his power. It wasn't gone, he could still feel that glimmer deep within, but there was something blocking it. Every attempt at a spell ended in more nausea, and unwilling to drown in his own vomit while stuck in this position he gave up. The sling ring was a failure as well, he failed to even produce a spark, it felt like he had been thrown back to his first days of training.

It was rather embarrassing.

Something, whatever spell the Titan had thrown at him had closed off his power, which shouldn't be possible. There were so many wards of protection surrounding him, not just his own but Wong's as well, spells that even Thanos's minion, Ebony Maw hadn't been able to outmatch. How had the Titan managed it? He didn't possess any magical abilities that they knew of, sure he could do a few energy manipulations but on a scale with the Sorcerer Supreme he was no match for magic.

And then there was Toni's armor. She had put every kind of shielding known to mankind in her suit, it shouldn't have went down so fast. Then there were his own protective wards that he had placed upon all the Avengers gear (without their knowledge of course and he wasn't about to say anything) including Toni's armor, and yet Thanos had knocked them down with barely a flick of the wrist.

It was like their fight for the Stones all over again, without the poof to dust.

It couldn't be possible..

There was something, something tickling the borders of his thoughts that he couldn't quite reach. Something about Thanos was different, but he couldn't recall what it was..

He groaned in misery, the pain was not the only thing currently causing him agony. The pressure building in his lower abdomen had finally hit intolerable levels, he needed to get up, but since could barely raise a finger he required some help.

Help that was currently snoring like a tornado in a trailer park and won't wake up..

Jesus, that was just a horrible comparison, _Cars_ , really..He was never watching a movie with Wong again.. Morphine made him think the weirdest things.

Had he spent more time with the Avengers at the Tower, or even the Mansion upstate, he would have found out that Toni, once asleep, slept like a corpse. He'd been calling her for the last five minutes to no avail, at first he worried the concussion she was sporting may have rendered her unconscious but he remembered she was very coherent yesterday.

More so than he was, anyway. And she seemed fine last night when she wove a pillow from grass, but then again that could be a sign there, Toni Stark making a pillow. Maybe he should have had the Cloak keep her awake.

"Toni, come on! Please.."

He wouldn't be able to handle the pressure much longer, he had waited as long as he could but it was starting to be to much. He squirmed a little to try and ease the discomfort.

"Urrrrghh!" Stephen snapped, _"Toni! Wake up! Please!"_ He managed to snag a pebble from his prone position on the ground with his good arm and heave it in her general direction. It pinged off the tree just beside her and rebounding straight into her face, jolting her awake but seemingly making her believe she was under attack.

"Ahhh, what? Who'sit?" She flew to her feet, looking around in a daze, not completely in the wake yet. Her eyes rolling chaotically in her head. After a tense moment of her flailing about and holding her hands out in a battle stance, she staggered like a drunk for a second before focusing on Stephen.

"Good morning," he greeted.

"Eh?"

"Remind me to thank Thor for a lovely weekend.." Stephen muttered sarcastically.

Toni goggled at him for a brief moment while her brain returned to reality.

"Oh God." She scrubbed at her face, "I fell asleep didn't I? _Shit_! I'm sorry, I just meant to have a short nap. Oh my _God_ , that was so stupid! Anything could have happened to us!"

"I'm sure the Cloak would have alerted you should there be imminent danger."

"Hmm, more likely to fly off with you to safety and leave me to be eaten by a giant mouse or some shit.. How are you feeling? Are you ok?"

Stephen huffed, "Dandy.. I survived a thousand foot drop from the sky and practically shattered the left side of my body. I was impaled by a tree, had field surgery without anesthesia, it feels like there's a knife jammed in my skull.. Ooh, my eye is swollen shut, the side of my body that isn't broke is going numb from lying here for two days and I'm drenched in sweat, I smell like shit and I've just realized I'm missing three back teeth. I think I may have ate them.. How could I not be OK?!"

"..."

"What?" Stephen panted.

"I think I'll give you more drugs. You're less of an ass when your high.. And one tooth was stuck in your hair I just didn't want to tell you."

"Oh God.." Stephen grimaced, "I'm sorry, I just.. I'm having a bit of an urgent situation here.."

"What's wrong?!" Tony strode to him, "Is it your shoulder? What do you need?"

He hesitated, looking sheepish. "No, no it's nothing like that… I…"

She knelt down, "What? Are you thirsty? Hungry? We have some of those MRE packets."

"No.. I.." He gave a frustrated growl, "God, this sucks! I need.."

"What? More morphine?"

"..."

"For God's sake Stephen! _What_? Just spit it out!" Toni yelled.

"I need to, uum, I have to _go_."

"Go where?"

"Oh for-I need to go to the bathroom. Restroom. The tree. The rock! Whatever we're using here."

Toni looked confused, "What? That's what you need? You need to pee. And that what, embarrasses you? Me seeing your dick. Come on Stephen, it's not like I've never seen a dick before. Hell, I've seen all the other Avengers dicks, it's hard to avoid when half of them walk around naked most of the time. Thor's is like the size of my arm, and Cap looks like he's rock hard 24/7."

"Oh Hell, I don't need to know that," Stephen groaned.

Toni grinned, "Oh please, you were a doctor. How can that possibly be embarrassing for you? You probably saw thousands of va-jay-jays and hot dogs while you were working!"

"I wasn't that kind of Dr. My focus was the upper part of the anatomy, thank you.." He cringed, "And it's not just that! I kinda have to..umm. Do the other one…" he trailed off.

"Huh?" It dawned on her, "Oh.. _Ohhhh_.. You want me to help you shit in the woods." she said slowly.

"I really don't want you to.. If you could just.. I don't know, help me up and prop me behind a tree I'll figure it out from there.."

Toni goggled at him, "Yeah, how bout noooo!"

"Toni, I draw the line at you helping me shit in the woods.."

"Absolutely not! I had to put parts of you back together yesterday! You can hardly move, my armor is holding those pieces in place, I'm not going to just drop you behind some tree and hope for the best! Now is not the time to turn prudish!" She exclaimed.

Stephen let out a weary breath, "Where's my cloak. Maybe it can fly me somewhere."

Toni looked to the tree that the Cloak had disappeared behind last night. It was peaking it's collar out watching (listening? She really needed to learn more about it) the two of them.

"It's still sulking from your scolding. But I don't think it lifting you will be a good idea. Doesn't it usually wrap around your shoulders? We can't risk doing more damage to it Doc, I don't have many supplies and we don't even know if anyone is coming for us. For all we know we're in another dimension and only five minutes have passed where we were."

He realized she could be right, "God, I hope they are. If I don't get proper treatment soon…" he trailed off, lines of worry were etched across his face. "The-the Cloak can carry me without using my shoulders. It knows what to do, it just needs to be slow."

She relented, knowing he knew his magic blanket better than she did. "Alright. But Doc, don't worry, I've got enough supplies to see you through about two weeks. And I have antibiotics that I can stretch out a bit longer. Jarvis gave me a good supply, and I swear to you I will not stop trying to find a way to get us home.." Toni promised.. " This is not our end of the line.. Ok? We will get out of here, together."

"I'm holding you to that, Toni.." he whispered.

"I will get us out of here, Doc.." She rubbed her fingers through his gritty hair, "But first, let's get your pee problem sorted."

He sighed heavily, "Next time I'm sending Wong.."

Toni giggled, "Somehow, I can't see Wong being nervous about me seeing his dick. Hell, he'd enjoy it and take like 50 pee breaks just so I could get handsy! I never thought that you, a doctor, would be skittish about nudity!"

Stephen looked away with his good eye, "I'm not usually.. It's just been," he gestured vaguely, "a while since anyone has even seen me.. Well, in anything less than my robes.."

Toni's brow lifted, "How long is 'a while'?"

"Clea.." he whispered.

She sucked in a breath, shocked, "Clea! Doc that was six years ago! What, have you really been living out your monk fantasy this whole time?"

"...Basically.."

"So you haven't had sex in six-"

"Can we _please_ discuss my lack of sex life later, or I'm going to lose what's left of my dignity and piss myself right here!" He was getting a little peeved.

"Right! Sorry."

She motioned for the Cloak who drifted over cautiously, "Can you lift him without hurting him?" The Cloak nodded. "Ok, just go slow, please. Try not to jostle him much."

The Cloak flattened itself on the ground and slithered underneath him like a snake. It moved into its normal position, the collar supporting his head, before cocooning around him. Slowly, he began rising until Stephen was in a standing position. The entire process took a full three minutes, Stephen panting in agonized breaths the whole time.

"Alright, you flying red menace," Toni retrieved her mesh bag-o-goodies, complete with toilet paper, "Follow me, _slowly_ , we'll find a nice fluffy bush." She could swear the edges of its collar turned inward in an angry glare, but it drifted behind her anyway. .

"Wait! Wait, _wait_.. Stop, _please_!"

Toni turned, "Stephen?"

"Dizzy-Oh God, I'm gonna.." He gulped audibly, "Oh _shit_ , I'm gonna be sick." That was all the warning he gave before spewing up a foul smelling liquid that looked like Doritos.

Unable to bend, the mess rolled down his chin and oozed onto the Cloak underneath, it gave a disgusted shiver.

"Fuck.. This is why I hate morphine-Oh God!"

A second crimson wave came right behind the first, Toni couldn't do anything to help. It was a useless feeling, not knowing what to do. All she could do was wait for it to end. The Cloak tried to relieve him a bit by leaning forward but-

"No! _No_ , stop! Moving makes me even _worse-_ " He heaved again, and again, and once more before deflating back against the Cloak, utterly spent. Poor guy, his face was a mess, with the swollen eye most of the left side was dark purple. Now he had a trail of vomit down his chin and neck and twin trails of clear fluid running from his nostrils.

Tears of pain were leaking from his good eye and he was shivering slightly.

"M'sorry Toni.." he whispered. "You shouldn't have to do this."

"Not your fault Doc," she spoke, probably in the most sympathetic voice he'd ever heard from her. "A little puke isn't going to scare me, you should ask Rhodey about spring break 92'."

She pawed through her bag til she found the thin packet of sanitizing wipes Jarvis had stocked. Toni wiped away the traces of sickness from his face and body while Stephens head sagged weakly into his Cloak. She went to retrieve his water bladder so he could rinse the foul taste from his mouth.

"Here Doc, swish and spit."

"Thank you."

"You okay now Doc?"

"No.." He panted, "I didn't feel this bad after my accident.." He shivered, even though the early morning temperature was already a match for a Floridian summer afternoon.

Toni frowned, she didn't have a thermometer so she checked for warmth the old fashioned way and his head against her hand felt hot, it wasn't a good sign. She would have to use some of the Paracetamol in her pack to try and bring the fever down before it became unmanageable.

"Doc, I think you have a fever."

Meekly, he agreed. "I know, I've been freezing all morning. I'm not-surprised, who knows what kind of weird bacteria is on this planet. With my luck I'll contract some creepy form of alien syphilis and my balls will swell like a basketball!"

Toni snickered, "Well, that tree did penetrate you on the way down."

He actually laughed, "Well I laid out there for hours, honestly it's a miracle I'm even conscious. Can we try and move again, the nausea is passing and I _really_ need to go. Just not very far, please."

Toni made a little hole in the ground and disposed of her ruined gloves and wipes then filled it back in. No need to leave their trash to pollute some unsuspecting planet. Hopefully their American germs wouldn't trigger some catastrophic disease and wipe out what life there was on this planet. Since the fire had burned out burying seemed the best option.

She went about thirty yards from their makeshift camp through the dense underbrush til she came upon a spot with a bit of a rocky outcrop. That should work nicely, she could even pile some of these rocks as a makeshift toilet cause Stephen wasn't the only one who needed to go.

"What do you think Doc? Is this a good place for me to pull your peaches?" Toni wiggled her brows.

"I don't know where you come up with these things, but yes. This is fine. So, uh, how are we going to do this?" Stephen asked.

"Well I was thinking I just pull your delightful undies down and while I aim you shoot."

"Jesus," He scrubbed a hand over his face and winced when he irritated his cuts, "Next time Wong is doing this. I meant the other part."

"I can't see myself pulling Wong's dong-"

"Toni!"

"-but I was planning on using some of these rocks to make a port-o-potty and since you've decided to be a prude today-"

"I'm not a-"

"-my plan was to sit you there and let you do you thing and then if you need help I'll wipe your ass for you." Toni gave him the widest smile he'd ever seen.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Stephen deadpanned.

"Hmmm, you being injured-no. Your embarrassment at me playing with your Petey- _yesss_!"

Stephen cast his eye skyward, "I should have fled to the Dream Dimension.."

Toni hummed, "Yeah, I'm sure Nightmare would just _love_ seeing you again."

"Can we get on with it, _please_!"

"Fine!" She motioned the Cloak to a nearby tree. "Can you balance on your good leg?"

"Probably, with Cloaks help. Why?"

"Just trying to figure out the best approach." She looked at the Cloak, "Ok, put him down slowly til his feet touch the ground, but don't let him go. Good, now keep him steady but let his arm free."

"Toni-"

"Trust me Stephen, I know what I'm doing."

"Which one of us was the doctor again?" Stephen asked.

"Technically both, I have several doctorates." She leaned close, "Now put your arm around me."

His exposed skin caused him to shiver more, his teeth rattled slightly, but he managed to lift his arm around her shoulder.

"Cold," he grit out.

"I know, let's get this done and I'll see what I can do about that fever. Kay Red, I need some access to the family jewels here. Open up."

The Cloak was very compliant when it was helping it's master, but she could feel it watching her warily, no doubt ready to bring on her demise should she make a wrong move. Nevertheless, it gave her an opening and she tugged down Stephen's briefs while he tried to turn a blind eye on the situation. Never one to be shy, Toni reached down and took him in hand, making him gasp.

"What?"

"Your hands are hot," he told her.

"Well it's like five hundred degrees out here. Come on Doc," she gave a tug, "Chop chop."

He cringed, "Can you, uh, look the other way?"

"Oh for God's sake! Don't think about it, just _go_!"

"I'm trying! This is a weird situation for me!" Stephen yelled.

"Your name is literally Strange, how can anything be weird for you?" Toni spat back, "Stop being a baby and just go already! Shit!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"You started it!" Toni shot back. "Just-"

She bit back her next words, knowing he was in pain and this was an unusual situation. Anger would only be a hindrance to them, she needed to stay calm. Snapping at him for something as mundane as taking a leak was pointless. Some people truly had severe trouble with urinating in public places, restrooms and such. She didn't think he was one but he had been living alone the last six years, well aside from Wong.

A little support is key Toni, she thought.

Bringing her arm around his lower back she rubbed soothing circles to try and relax him.

"Stephen." She continued to rub, "Stephen, look at me."

He met her eyes, the lone, Caribbean colored iris full of anguish and pain.

"Stephen, it's just you, and me. We've known each other for over ten years. God knows you have seen me in some pretty kooky situations. And you've been in some doozies yourself. Remember when you got us stuck in the Purple Dimension?"

Stephen's eye widened comically.

"Eh, see! If I can get past you seeing me like that, then this should be a bed of roses. Come on, I'm need some five finger exercise here. But really, mums the word on the whole miner 49er thing."

Stephen giggled, "But I did get us out-"

"Yeah, after two weeks!"

"-and I guess it's only fair, I saw you in your birthday suit, you get to see me in mine. Do you still have those piercings?"

"Hmmm, be a good boy and I might let you find out." Toni told him playfully. His mouth made like a fish but now words were forthcoming. She held his gaze for a few moments til he looked away bashfully, his cheeks a lovely shade of pink. She remembered back when they first met all those years ago he had been a little more playful and fun. Clea leaving must have put him through the ringer.

When they got back home she was determined to bring Stephen into their happy circle even if it killed her..

"Don't make a promise you won't keep, Toni." Stephen mumbled. "I think I'm good now, but if you could just press a bit on my bladder that may help."

"Mmmhmm, way to change the subject there Doc." She wouldn't push him any further, not yet anyway. With one arm still on his back she moved the other up to press on his lower abdomen, trying to help him along.

He hissed in pain and Toni hurriedly pulled it away, "Sorry, I-"

His grip on her shoulder tightened, "No, it's fine.. Just, push a bit harder, please."

"You want me to sing to you to?"

"Please don't," he begged.

"Let it go-"

"Nooo.."

"Let it go-"

"Severely injured man here.."

"Can't hold it back anymooooooore!" Toni bellowed.

"God, stop! You sound like Weird Al!"

"Everyone's a critic.." Toni mumbled, pressing down on his stomach.

It took a good five minutes but finally matter over mind kicked in and a steady stream of urine began to flow.

A steady red stream..

"Oh shit.. Doc, why are you.. Are you peeing blood?"

"It's fine. Well, not really fine but it's most likely a hematuria. A bruised kidney, a fairly severe one by the looks of it. It should go away in a week or so.. If not, well.. I may have a problem." He closed his eye in bliss, "This is what Heaven feels like," he moaned.

Toni chuckled, then leaned a little closer and gave him a cursory sniff. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of stale sweat and the undertones of dried blood and vomit.

"Are you smelling me?"

"...No…" she lied.

"Stop it. I'm well aware of how I smell but there's nothing I can do about it right now. We both just have to deal."

"Actually, Jarvis gave me some soap tablets. Enough to see us through for a while. I'm sure I can rig up a temporary bath, not sure if I should give you one though, you know, cause of the fever. Jesus, are you ever going to stop going?"

"Toni, you could bathe me in mud right now and I'd be grateful. I smell horrible! And I've been holding that in since we left home, I'm entitled to a long break."

"A camel holds less water than you.."

"Har har.. There see, I'm finished." Stephen pointed out.

"Finally! I still have to build our port-o-potty. So are you a two shakes kinda guy or three?

"Just pull my clothes up."

"Ok, ok. Jeez." She tugged his briefs in place. "Just float here a bit til I get it ready."

Toni rolled and stacked the largest and flattest rocks she could manage on the backside of the tree for support, she figured if Stephen could lean back there would be less pressure to his ribs. After a half hour she had a decent enough pile with a hole in the middle. She even cut some tall grass blades and shoved them into some rocks at the top to give them more privacy.

"There we go! Piece of cake! Your throne awaits you my liege." She gave a bow.

The Cloak floated him closer. Stephen had to smile, who else but Toni could build a toilet on a strange planet out of rocks and grass. Hell, if she had more time she'd probably make it flush. "Thanks.. But I am not letting you help me here.. I will manage this on my own."

Toni rolled her eyes, "Fine, but don't hurt yourself, if you need me just freaking ask, ok? And we might as well lose the undies, when we get back to the camp I can wash them and rig up a bath."

"Umm, what am I supposed-"

"Big Red will keep your modesty intact til there clean. Oh yea, here you go," she handed him some toilet paper and bent down to remove his briefs, "Save some for me and use it wisely, after this is gone all I have are those sanitizing wipes. They might burn and I really don't want my ass on fire."

"Here, I'll help you sit and then leave you to do your thing. Never thought I'd have to shit in the woods again, makes me miss Cap right now.." She sighed fondly.

"Really want to hear that story," Stephen said.

"All in good time my pretty," she started walking away, "I'll be over here, just yell if you need me, ok."

"Toni?"

"Yeah Doc?" She turned back.

"Thank you for this.. I'm really glad you're the one who's with me.."

She smiled, "So am I Doc."

"So am I.."


	6. The Thunder Rolls

Five days..

Five days since she was thrown powerless through a portal and fell from the sky at full speed. Four days since she'd woken up on this godforsaken planet, with it's creepy colored sky and trees that make the Burj Khalifa look like the toddler slide in the park. Four days since she had performed emergency field surgery without any experience on her severely injured comrade. Three days since Stephen had developed a fever that the acetaminophen tablets were barely keeping in check.

Five days and there was absolutely no sign of rescue in sight.

Now they had to make a decision. Stay put or start moving.

"We can't stay here," Stephen said. "We're to exposed. We still don't have any idea of what threats could be out there."

They were sitting around their tiny campfire, well Toni was sitting, Stephen was lying still, propped up a bit on his homemade grass pillow, freshly bathed _(courtesy of Toni and her supply if soap tablets)_ and sporting freshly washed boxer-briefs _._ Also courtesy of Toni.

She had taken his robes, rolled them as tightly as possible and they were now at the bottom of her waterproof storage bag. Patiently waiting for him to magic them back to their former glory if he could ever figure out why his power was bound.

He was feeling better, still in a great deal of pain but with Toni's mixture of morphine and acetaminophen the pain was far more manageable.

The swelling on his face had receded slightly, he could now see hints of color in his left eye, his entire body was sore but the shoulder was the worst. She had been giving him shots of lidocaine in his injured shoulder to try and keep him comfortable but the numbing agent was quickly disappearing. They were down to two syringes now.

He needed to try to deal with the constant burn in his shoulder without the help of the meds, another situation could arise where they needed it, but everytime it had worn off his upper body felt like a raging inferno despite his constant chills.

The fever, well that was causing him some problems as well, the acetaminophen was keeping it from climbing higher _(Toni had magically pulled a thermometer out of her bottomless pit of a suit)_ but it wasn't showing any sign of going down. It was holding steady at a slightly worrisome 103.8. As a result, he was now feeling constantly thirsty, something he hadn't mentioned to Toni, they only had the three water bladders between them and he could literally drink about ten of them right now.

He knew he should be drinking more, he always dehydrated so fast whenever he had morphine, and with the fever he was in a constant state of sweating, but he didn't want to put the extra burden on Toni. It took a great deal of time for her to get the water boiled and safe for drinking. He hated to add to that.

"Maybe there aren't any, I mean we haven't seen or heard anything the entire time we've been here, so maybe there's, you know, nothing here." Toni said, poking at the little fire to get more heat, she was trying to boil more water in her helmet to refill their bottles.

"Maybe.. But I'd rather not take that chance. I'm not exactly at my best at the moment, as you may have noticed-"

Toni snickered.

"-and since you're powerless as well-"

"Hey!"

"-I think it would be best if we at least look for some form of shelter. And food, those MRE's won't last forever, and don't think I haven't noticed you've been skipping out on those so I can have more. I'm not blind Toni.."

"Oooh, busted.."

Stephen grinned, "Yes, busted. I appreciate that you want to make sure I'm taken care of, but you need to look after yourself as well. If you get sick or hurt, we're both as good as dead. I mean the Cloak is wonderful but it can't really do some of the things that we humans do."

The Cloak ruffled out, annoyed.

"What? You _know_ it's true, I saw how you reacted when I threw up on you.. And I'm positive you don't want to help me use the bathroom again.."

The Cloak shuddered, Toni laughed.

"I'm just saying, we could be sitting ducks right now. We need to get moving, we have more reasons to go than to stay."

Toni sighed, "I know, I know, just.. I guess I'm just afraid that if we move away from here we have less chance of being rescued."

"Toni-"

"I know! It's idiotic to think that, I mean if they were coming.." She trailed off. "It's been five days Doc, I think.. I think Thanos tossed us somewhere where even Heimdall can't see us."

"You tried calling Heimdall?"

"Yeah, about a hundred times while you were knocked out, no go.."

"If you want to stay here, we will." Stephen looked to her and held her gaze, "Toni, I have trusted you with my life on many occasions, this isn't any different. I trust whatever decision you make."

She bit her lip in thought, "We'll go.. But not today, tomorrow morning, first thing."

Stephen frowned, "Why not today? It's still early in the morning, we could cover a lot of ground before nightfall."

Toni poked at her fire, embers wafting out in all directions. She was trying to keep it burning to keep boiling water as they ran out. The Cloak, who was hovering nearby shook angrily as some hot ash floated down onto a hem.

"Hey!" Toni pointed her glowing stick at it, "You're the one flying too close to the fire, don't blame me for that! And if you smack at me again I'll hit you with my stick!"

Stephen rolled his good eye, "You know, I thought you two were getting along at first. I can't believe me choking myself on a drink of water has caused this level of animosity.."

"Well, the red drama queen needs to get over it because I'm gonna need it's help. There are two reasons to wait until tomorrow. First, we're going to have to find a direction to head off in and to do that I need to get to the tops of the trees and see what could be out there. While I could climb the five thousand plus feet to the top, it would be much better if it could just be nice for five minutes and agree to fly me up there."

Stephen was quiet for a moment, "Ok, I admit that's a good reason but why wouldn't it fly you up there?"

"Oh, it probably will, I'm just afraid it'll drop my ass once we get to the top.." Toni glared at the Cloak, which fluffed out, annoyed. "Is it always that pissy or does it just hate me?"

"It won't drop you.." Stephen told her gently. "I admit it can be fickle-"

The Cloak ruffled at him.

"-but it won't harm you. It's not a malicious being, well, unless you hurt me, but I can promise you that it won't cause you any harm Toni."

"Mmmhmm, and the bitch slap the other night? My nose still stings you know."

"I'm not sure, maybe it _thought_ that you were going to hurt me while I was in a helpless state."

"I've known you for close to ten years, if I wanted to hurt you I've had plenty of chances…"

Stephen sighed wearily, "I don't.. I can't.. I can't read it's mind, but it has _never_ hurt anyone who _wasn't_ trying to hurt me."

"Hello! I _wasn't_ trying to hurt you. For God's sake I pulled a freaking tree out of your body while it stood by and watched. If it wanted to go all protective, that would have been a good time." Toni spat.

"I have no idea.. Maybe it's just having a mood."

"Great, you have a bipolar Cloak!"

The Cloak must have decided it had heard enough, it fluffed out then floated upward, drifting toward the tree tops.

" _See_! That thing is a shrink's worst nightmare! Where is it even going? Is it gonna fly off and leave us for dead?"

Stephen rolled his good eye, "Well, it's over and there's nothing _either_ of you can do about it but move on. And stop slapping each other, I'm ok.."

Toni raised her perfectly arched brow.

Stephen groaned, "You know what I mean!" He squinted at the sky, _"What are you..? Get back here! Ow.."_ He grimaced in pain, clutching his ribs.

Toni gave him a grumpy face, "A nightmare.." She hissed, "and you try telling it to get over it. Thing has a grudge."

"Ugh, just.. Nevermind, it'll come back when it's ready, what was your second reason?"

Toni smiled, the fakest smile he'd ever seen, "Oh, dear, dear Stephen…"

"Uh-oh.."

"Did you really think _I_ wouldn't notice the minimal amount of water you've been drinking. Even though I laid two of the bladders beside you. As a doctor you really should know better."

He cringed, "Former doctor…" he corrected, "and busted, apparently.."

"Yep!" Toni popped the P.

"I'm fine, Toni. It's not that big of a-"

"Zippy!" She wagged her glowing red stick at him. "You, have a high fever, you've been sweating it out faster than you're taking it in, plus with this heat and freaking miserable humidity.. Let's not forget that you only had to pee once since yesterday morning. Doc you're dehydrating already, I can see it. Your lips are dry, you keep licking at them but from the way you keep moving your mouth I'm assuming it's dry to. While I can't be sure and I know you won't tell me, it looks like you've basically stopped sweating.. So _for the love of God drink the damn water!_

"Fine! I just, I was trying not to add more weight to your shoulders. It takes quite a bit of time for you to get the water ready and I was trying to conserve as much as possible."

Toni pursed her lips, "While I appreciate the offer, I will remind you that I am a grown ass woman. If, and trust me here, _if_ at anytime I ever feel like I can't handle something I will tell you that. I have a voice and I love to hear it-"

"No shit.."

"-but please don't ever assume because I'm female that something may be 'too much' for me."

Stephen groaned, "I wasn't doing that, I just meant-" he trails away, looking up. "Toni?"

"What?" She followed his gaze. "Dude, what the _hell_ is that thing doing? Pretending it's a torpedo?"

The Cloak was zooming back toward them at an incredible speed. It reminded her of the days when she did weapons demos for the government, it's what her missiles looked like falling to earth. And it was zooming toward Toni.

"Stephen…" Toni began, swiftly standing up from her place on the ground. "Why, uh..? Why does it look look it's c _oming right at me, Stephen_ ?"

"Maybe it's not… Holy _shit_ it's coming right at you! Toni _move_!" Stephen pushed himself painfully up onto his good arm.

"Move where!?" Toni started backing toward the trees. "There's nowhere to-"

" _Toni lookout!_ " Stephen yelled.

"-move! _Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh_ "

" _Toni!"_

The Cloak picked her up with lightning speed, taking off and disappearing again before Stephen could process what was going on. _"Shit! What the fu-"_

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Toni screamed all the way up. To think she once thought it would be cool to have her own magic Cloak. Never again… That thing was a freaking nightmare.. It had her cocooned in its embrace as it zoomed upward at speeds that rivaled her armor and while she loved to fly she preferred to do it while safely enclosed in her own creation, not this magical monstrosity..

"Put me down you mother- _No! Wait!_ Ignore that! _Don't_ put me down! She screamed and cursed as the Cloak broke through the treetops, pausing in her rant as the early morning suns nearly blinded her.

"Oh God.." She tried covering her eyes, "It's about a hundred degrees hotter up here than down at the bottom.. Ugh, why me! Couldn't you have just flown me somewhere colder if your going to kill me? Did you want my face to melt away before I die? Or my eyes to burn out of my head!"

The Cloak used a hem to try and pull Toni's arms away from her eyes, "No! Leave me be, why do insist on torturing me!? It's bad enough we're stuck in this Hellhole, could you try to be nice for like two-"

The Cloak ripped her arms away from her face and lifted her head with its collar. Toni blinked in the brightness, her eyes focusing.

"..."

The Cloak ruffled.

"What..? Is that?" Toni said, staring at the far horizon.

The Cloak shrugged.

She stared at the swirling mass of solid black clouds, currents of lightning zigzagging through. From their vantage point she could barely make out the faint roar of wind and rumbles of thunder.

"What the _Hell_ is that!" Toni exclaimed. "Is that a _hurricane_!? Is that a tornado? What in the actual..."

She squinted at the sky above her head, clear as glass and scorching suns beaming down, then looked back to the horizon.

"This place… Is freaking ridiculous…"

Cloak nodded.

"Please tell me it's not moving toward us…"

A shrug.

"How far away do you think we are?" Toni stared in wonder, the storm was massive. If she had to guess she'd estimate that they were about two fifty to three hundred miles away, give or take a hundred or so. But given the size of everything she'd seen so far she wouldn't be surprised if it were farther. She watched as the lightning sizzled about in near constant streams and an idea began to take shape in her mind.

They hovered a few minutes before Toni spoke again, smiling, "Let's get back down to Stephen. I have a horrible, _horrible_ idea."


End file.
